My name is Pum Rithy, and I was born into a poor family in a rural village in Kompong Cham Province. When I was in primary school, my mother always encouraged me to study, because she knew that education was the key to a better future for her children. Unfortunately, only my youngest sister and I were able to graduate with bachelor’s degrees. My oldest brother only finished grade 6, and my second older brother only finished grade 9, due to our family’s financial issues.
In 2005, when I was studying in grade 12, my entire family moved to Siem Reap because my mother had to sell our rice fields to pay back a family loan. When we moved to Siem Reap, my second brother became a tuk-tuk driver, my dad became an ice cream seller, my mother stayed at home, and my youngest sister was in primary school. My second brother and my dad worked hard to earn money to support our family. Fortunately, that year, my second brother met an Australian tourist named Tania Palmer Michelle, and they fell in love and got married in 2005.
After I finished grade 12 in 2005, I moved to Siem Reap with my family and looked for a job to earn money to support my family. Fortunately, after my second brother got married to Tania, they decided to run a non-profit local NGO called the Green Gecko Project. At that time, my sister-in-law, Tania, asked me to work at Green Gecko as a food delivery person and cleaner. However, my English-speaking skills were very poor, as I had never practiced speaking English when I was in high school, and I had never met a foreigner who spoke English, which made my job very difficult.
After working as a food delivery person and cleaner for a few years, I was promoted to Child Group Leader, so my job was to look after one group of children, which typically had seven to eleven kids. When I worked as a group leader, I was very passionate about it because I love working with children, and I felt that I could also help my local community. During this time, I enrolled in English classes and continued my bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Southeast Asia (USEA).
After working as a group leader for many years, I was promoted to Operations Manager at the Green Gecko Project. In this position, I worked very closely with children and their parents to communicate with them and the Green Gecko director. Unfortunately, the bookkeeping and administration staff member resigned from the Green Gecko Project and moved back to her homeland, so I was asked to take on those responsibilities as well.
Due to the Green Gecko’s plan to have all families live independently, my workload decreased significantly in 2020. In November 2021, I passed an interview for a part-time job at Safe Haven as a bookkeeper, and I worked there for one and a half years. Now, I am very fortunate to have joined the lovely team at REACH Siem Reap as a bookkeeper and administrator. I love all of REACH’s programs because they help many children in Siem Reap who don’t have the opportunity to access education, good nutrition, hygiene, and care from their parents.
